Sex-specific foraging of an apex predator puts females at risk of human-wildlife conflict

Urbanisation and anthropogenic alteration of ecosystems has led to conflict between humans and wildlife. Such conflict is often observed in apex predators. Although human-wildlife conflict has been extensively studied, male/female differences in behaviour are rarely considered.

We investigated male/female differences in foraging behaviour of the predatory/scavenging brown skua Catharacta antarctica lonnbergi breeding on a New Zealand island nature reserve in proximity to farmland. These skuas are subject to culling, when perceived as a threat to livestock.

As part of a long-term ecological study, we used high-resolution Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to characterise the space-use of foraging brown skuas. We also analysed stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) from modern and archived blood samples to investigate possible changes in diet over the past ~30 years.

Analysis of 100 GPS tracks collected from 2014-16 demonstrated that males and females consisten...